Location: The Gateway to the Grand Canyon, wishing I was back home in Hawaii

Posts: 1,799

I wasn't trying to "shame" anybody here with my post, but I was recalling why I no longer buy helper anything, as CG stated there are alternatives to that, and isn't that why we're all here? To share in different methods of putting nutritious food on the table for our loved ones...
And, heh, we've (my husband and I) have been poor like us we deal with what we can get a hold of. YUP! I think all of us here at some point in our lives have been there.
Rockey_F_Squirrell make no mistake, you aren't disappointing any of us. We're here to uplift and encourage each other... my tongue in cheek post was more poking fun at Betty Crocker, that wholesome conglomerate ... NOT you honey! We love new kids on the block and surely would love to point you in different directions of nutritious, inexpensive meals for you and your family. Search some of the previous threads and the way that we all encourage each other at DC.
So, there's no shame goin' on here, that's for sure.

Location: I live in the Heartland of the United States - Western Kentucky

Posts: 15,162

I've never been a "boxed" food user even when, as a single mom of several little ones, I faced eviction multiple times and struggled financially. Just that I've always cooked from scratch. Maybe what I prepared was minimal and mediocre but we all had something to eat.

I have ventured into the boxed food world and discovered that I can't eat any of what I've tried due to the salty taste, to me, of what I've tried. I've never been much of a salt eater and all the packaged foods seem extremely salty to me so I stay away from them.

I think many families rely on the "helper" types of foods because of time constraints and what might be viewed as an economical way of feeding themselves and/or their families. In the end, I believe my own scratch foods are prepared in about the same amount of time and are less expensive.

I wish Rockey well in his journey to feed his family. It's not the easiest thing to do when moths fly out of one's wallet.

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"As a girl I had zero interest in the stove." - Julia Child
This is real inspiration. Look what Julia became!

Brown meat in skillet and break into crumbles as it cooks, drain all but 2 tablespoons of fat from pan, sprinkle flour over ground meat and stir for a minute or so, gradually add the liquid and continue stirring, add Worcestershire sauce and season to taste, stir in egg noodles and simmer for 8-10 minutes stirring occasionally, until the egg noodles are tender.

This can be made a thousand different ways with the addition of mushrooms, green beans, mixed vegetable, an onion, minced celery, etc...

You can also cut the liquid amount down to 1 1/2-2cups, leave out the noodles and make a thicker mixture to serve over mashed potatoes, rice, biscuits, etc...

There are a good many budget freindly dishes that taste great, if you get tired of Helper type boxed meals. Here's a few.

1. Goulash. Though not the authentic Hungarian dish, it was delilcious.
Brown 1 lb. ground beef. While that's going on, boil a cup of elbo macaroni for about ten minutes, or whatever your favorite pasta shape is. When the pasta is done, drain and add the drained ground beef. Add a can of diced tomato, along with a teaspoon each of dried oregano, basil, and thyme. Dice and onion and add it. Dice a bell pepper and add it. Cover and let simmer until the veggies are softened. You can also add mushrooms to this if so inclined.

Reading food labels involves understanding what's on them, not just how many there are, so let's take a closer look at these ingredients. We all know that processed foods tend to be high in fat, salt and sugar. Beyond that, though, with the exception of Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, I’d like to know why anyone objects to any these ingredients. If you think about it, you probably use most of them when you make a similar dish from scratch; you just don’t call them by their chemical names.

Mono and Diglycerides – fats that are naturally present in various seed oils

Cheddar Cheese* (milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes) – more cheese

Yeast Extract - the common name for various forms of processed yeast products made by extracting the cell contents (removing the cell walls); they are used as food additives or flavorings, or as nutrients for bacterial culture media

A couple of things I used to throw together on a Sunday afternoon for my kid to heat up in the microwave for lunch during the summer when there was no school, but there was still work:

Cook up two pounds of ground beef, and add 2 cups of spaghetti sauce, home made or jarred and divide it in half. Served on burger buns, I called them Sloppy Guiseppes. Add a pound of some type of small macaroni like elbows or tiny shells to the other half and add a little more sauce if necessary and you have home made beef-a-roni.

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Life is much more manageable when thought of as a scavenger hunt as opposed to a surprise party - Jimmy Buffett

I wasn't trying to "shame" anybody here with my post, but I was recalling why I no longer buy helper anything, as CG stated there are alternatives to that, and isn't that why we're all here? To share in different methods of putting nutritious food on the table for our loved ones...

I'm sure you didn't intend it, but the way it came across was, "I quit eating that stuff a long time ago because OMG LOOK AT THAT LONG LIST OF INGREDIENTS AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

I think you can understand how that might not be perceived as encouraging

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__________________The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days later you're hungry again. ~ George Miller